


How to Get Away with Murder

by Maisie_top_trash



Series: Unseen - Fear Will Lose [41]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Anxiety, Delusions, Depression, Hallucinations, M/M, Mental Illness, Murder, Panic Attacks, Psychosis, Schizoaffective Disorder, mental health
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-29 04:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20956652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maisie_top_trash/pseuds/Maisie_top_trash
Summary: Unseen Fear Will Lose is a series of single chapter stories showing unseen scenes from the same universe as my main story, Fear Will Lose. In order to fully enjoy these extra bits, I recommend you go and read that first.Fear Will LoseStress levels are high as the all important winter finals arrive for Josh's third year of law school, but stress levels are even higher for Tyler. When things spill over for his vulnerable boyfriend, will Josh be able to put the years of studying into practice and keep them from being separated yet again?





	How to Get Away with Murder

**Author's Note:**

> TW mentions of death, blood, injuries

The library at Josh’s school was beautiful but he was sick of it. Winter finals for his third year had him locked away in the library from dawn till way beyond dusk and he was tired of it. However with a 4 hour paper on IHT, trusts and estates in the morning, he didn’t have time to stop.

Whilst the ground floor of the library allowed hushed conversations around communal tables, enabling study groups to meet, the upper level of the facility was strictly silent. In fact it was so strict that Josh had once witnessed a student be thrown out for sneezing. And because it was so eerily silent, everybody turned to look at him when his phone started buzzing.

Tyler’s caller ID filled the screen and Josh rushed to decline, knowing he shouldn’t even have the device switched on, and once the sound stopped, all the other students got bored so turned away again, but his face was bright red and his heart was hammering.

_Sorry. Library. C u @ usual spot 4 lunch??_

Hoping Tyler would reply rather than get sulky, he kept his phone in his hand rather than on the desk, knowing the vibrations would be quieter that way. Unable to spare even a second, Josh put his head back down again and tried to force his tired eyes to read the notes he was trying to memorise, but his phone started ringing again.

Tyler, again.

_Babe I really can’t talk rn, sorry xx_

His boyfriend opened the message and Josh’s attention briefly went back to the pages in front of him, until his phone buzzed with several text notifications in a row.

_ANDWER MY XALLS!_  
_ENERGENCY!!_  
_HELP NE JOSH!_

Gut dropping, Josh raced to reply.

_Deep breaths, you’re safe <3_  
_What’s going on??_

Rather than texting back, Tyler tried to ring again and Josh had to decline again.

_ANSWER!!_

With a sigh, Josh slipped his phone into his pocket then stood up and tucked his chair underneath the desk. All his papers were a mess and in the wrong order as he hastily collected them together, mind elsewhere, and once he had everything, he hurried across the floor to the exit. People were staring at him again but his focus was now on his boyfriend.

“Ty? Babe? What is it?” Josh hit redial once the door closed behind him and he was half way down the stairwell. He daren’t continue all the way down to the ground floor, knowing phones were banned and a librarian would easily spot him, so instead he waited there, listening to what he thought was static but soon realised was Tyler crying.

“Sweetheart? Talk to me, talk to Josh, what is it?” He was getting increasingly concerned, only able to hear Tyler’s wheezing gulping breaths. “Are you having an episode? Do you need me to come home or call your mom or-“  
“I k-killed h-him,”

Josh sighed. Tyler was having a psychotic episode for the first time in a month - they’d been doing so well.

“You didn’t hurt anybody baby, just breathe. Did you take your meds this morning?”  
“You’re n-n-not l-listening. I ki-killed him.”  
“I am listening.” Josh kept his voice calm and level. “Who do you think you hurt?”  
“Jesse,”  
“Jesse’s at work today darling, you couldn’t ha-“  
“I th-though-thought he was a-at work t-too, so I p-p-pan-nicked w-when I he-heard the d-door starting to u-unlock, and I gr-grabbed the p-picture f-frame, and, a-and, and I h-hit him J-Jo-Josh,”

The terror in his voice was chilling, but Josh had to remind himself that Tyler wasn’t well and the violence wasn’t real.

“D-Do I c-call the p-po-police?? I d-don’t kn-know what to d-do. I n-need a l-law-lawyer, I, I need y-you, p-please,”  
“No don’t call the police,” Josh knew that they’d rush over if they thought he was confessing to murder and all their hostility would only further terrify his sick boyfriend, making the matter worse. What he really needed was somebody who loved him, somebody who would be patient and gentle with him, somebody to soothe him until the hallucination ended, and Josh knew from past events of Tyler’s that the police were anything but patient.

“You’re at my apartment, right?”  
“Y-y-yeh,”  
“Okay, I’m gonna come to you, but whilst I’m on my way I need you to go to the bedside drawer in our bedroom and find your lorazepam and take a dose, okay?”  
“I c-can’t,”  
“Why not sweetheart?”  
“H-he’s i-in the w-wa-way,”  
“Who’s in the way babe? Who else is there?”  
“J-Je-Jesse,”  
“Oh, I thought you said-“  
“The b-body Josh!”

“So where are you right now?”  
“K-Ki-Kitch-chen. He’s i-in the fr-front r-room. I, I, I, I have the p-pi-pict-ture f-fr-frame, do I w-wash the b-bl-blood off i-it?”  
“Can you see a lot of blood?”  
“S’e-ever-everywh-where,”  
“Literally everywhere? Is the whole apartment covered in blood?” Josh was trying his best to understand the extent of the hallucination whilst also reminding himself that it wasn’t real, no matter how convincing Tyler sounded.

“I h-hit him in th-the he-head, it, it, it p-pooled e-everywhere. I-it’s o-on the r-r-rug,”  
“Okay sweetheart, deep breaths. Is the the sight of blood triggering you?”  
“I k-killed some-one J-Josh! Th-that’s tr-trig-gering m-me!”  
“Alright I’m on my way, I’ll be there in 10 minutes, just stay where you are and take deep breaths. I need to go off my phone for one sec-“  
“No!”  
“One second whilst I leave the library, but I’ll call you right back, okay?”  
“N-no!”  
“Tyler there will be trouble if the librarians see me on my phone, they might stop me to tell me off or they might take my phone off me - it’ll slow me down,”  
“C-call me st-straight b-back,”  
“I promise, stay safe,” Josh begrudgingly had to hang up, then raced down the remaining stairs and opened the heavy door out onto the ground floor.

He tried to avoid the eyes of his classmates, all slaving away in preparation for the exam, knowing that now was not a good time to get caught in small talk with anybody. He’d almost done it, weaved his way through the tables and bookshelves to the exit, before Andrew walked out of the men’s bathroom.

The pair were close, Andrew was arguably his best friend as well as his housemate, and he noticed immediately that all was not good.

“What is it?” Andrew stopped him leaving, voice hushed. “Are you freaking out about tomorrow? Because the professor sent out an email saying we can come to him anytime before 5 tonight with quick questions - I’m going with Carla to recap a few bits from the compliance section, you can tag along if it’s gonna help you chill??”  
“S’not that, well it is that, I’m totally screwed for that, but I gotta head home,”  
“Ty?”  
“Yeah,” Josh sighed heavily.

“I know he’s the most important thing in the world to you, but these finals decide our job offers this summer, which decide our careers and the rest of our lives. I know you already got scouted for a position but they’ll drop you in an instance if you flunk any of these papers and offer it to the person above you in the rankings and you know it. You need to be here, focusing on this. Can’t his mom take care of him today?”  
“He wants me, Drew.”  
“I get it, you still feel guilty for not being there for him after Debby-“  
“Not there for him?? It was more than that, I fucking abandoned him, I ran away to the other side of the world and left him on his own. I destroyed him, I broke him, and I am not going to hurt him again. If he says he needs me then nothing else matters but him.”  
“You were grieving, you lost your best-“  
“Now’s not the time for this, I have to go,” Josh tried to take another step but Andrew did the same and blocked him again.

“Is he at our apartment?”  
“Yeah,”  
“Well Jesse should be there by now-“ Andrew checked his watch and Josh froze, body filling with cold dread.

“Jesse?? No, I thought he was working today,”  
“Nope not today, he went in first thing to cover for some girl whose car broke down, but he’ll be done by now so I’m sure he won’t mind keeping an eye on Ty, and if he gets bad then he can call Kelly. Stay here, join my study group, we can-“  
“I really have to go,” Josh barged past him, jogging out the library and not caring as the old woman behind the front desk yelled after him.

Still running in the direction of the parking lot, Josh got out his phone again and found Jesse’s contact as quick as he could, pressing call and holding it to his ear. With each ring, the panic in his chest got stronger and stronger.

Was it possible that Tyler had really...?

“Hi, you’ve reached Jesse’s voicemail, sorry I can’t-“

All of a sudden things had got scary. Really fucking scary.

Knowing Tyler was undoubtedly feeling the exact same thing magnified horrendously, Josh kept to his promise and called him back.

“Ty? Babe? You okay?”  
“C-c-course I’m n-n-not o-okay! P-please t-tell me y-you’re c-coming,”  
“I’m running to my car right now, I’m coming sweetie, I’m coming,”  
“I k-kill-killed h-him J-J-Josh, I k-killed J-Jesse.”  
“Deep breaths handsome, I’m coming,” Josh finally reached his Chevy and fumbled with his keys, resorting to dumping his papers on the floor and keeping them from blowing away with his foot, leaving behind a wet footprint on the top sheet. That was the least of his concerns as he unlocked the door and tossed them all onto the passenger’s seat, put his phone on the dashboard, and immediately started driving.

“Okay, I’m in my car, you’re on speakerphone, I’m alone. I need you to tell me exactly what happened,”  
“I c-c-can’t,”  
“You can, you’re so brave Tyler, you can.”  
“I, I,” Tyler was gasping for breath and it was hard to listen to. He sounded petrified and Josh was no longer sure it was unfounded.

“I w-was i-in b-bed,”  
“Why were you in bed?” Josh needed to establish the whole story, hating himself for picking the acquisitions elective over the advanced criminal litigation option. The little criminal law he knew was buried deep in the back of his mind and he was doing everything he could to remember it.

“I was s-sad,”  
“You were sad, okay, and in bed were you sleeping or watching TV or resting or what?”  
“Re-resting,”  
“Alright, good for you Ty, that’s really good listening to what you need, I’m proud of you for resting, okay?” It felt feeble to even attempt comforting him.

“What happened next?”  
“I h-he-heard a n-noise ou-outside,”  
“Outside the building or outside our room?”  
“R-r-room - stop a-ask-king so m-many qu-questions!!”  
“Sorry darling, sorry, I just need to build a full picture and understand the story so I know what to do next. The police will-“  
“P-police?!! No! N-no J-Jo-osh, no, I’ll g-go t-to j-jai-jail, I c-can’t be a-apart from y-y-you, not a-again,”  
“You won’t go to jail sweetheart, I’ll make sure of tha-“  
“YOU CAN’T PROMISE THAT!!” Tyler screamed.

“We’ll hire specialist defence lawyers to do the work that I’m not legally qualified to do yet, but angel you were only released from a psychiatric intensive care unit a little over a year ago, you have a psychotic diagnosis, you have multiple other diagnoses, you take mind altering medications daily, your medical records evidence extensive psychiatric treatment, you’re known to mental health professionals who could stand as witnesses to you being unwell, you’re known to the police as a mental health case - we have substantial records evidencing that you don’t always possess the capacity to appreciate criminality, we-“  
“I-insanity plea,”  
“Yes. It can bump a murder charge down to manslaughter with no jail time, just court ordered mental health treatment.”

“I-I’m c-compos m-mentis right n-now,”  
“You’re not sweetheart, if you were of clear mind then you wouldn’t have attacked Jesse.” Josh was speeding and his knuckles were white on the steering wheel. “We don’t lie to the police, not ever, that’s when things get messy. However if we need to embellish and say you were resting because you were seeing or hearing things then we can do that and they can’t prove otherwise. It will help your case without-“  
“I’m n-not g-going to the p-police,”  
“So what’s your plan Ty?”  
“I n-need y-you to h-hel-help m-me!”  
“Tyler, as your boyfriend and as a law student, I’m telling you right now, do not tamper with the crime scene. It will not end in your favour.”

Tyler was sobbing hysterically and Josh felt like crying too.

“He,”  
“I’m listening sweetheart, I’m here,”  
“He, h-he’s o-on the r-ru-rug, we c-cou-could r-roll him u-up,”  
“Then what baby? What happens next?” Josh always tried to respect his boyfriend’s thoughts but it was hard with so much on the line. “Even if somehow we managed to sneak out without any witnesses and dispose of the body somehow, we’ll still get caught. I reckon Andrew notices the rug is missing, he notices Jesse is missing, he remembers that I just ran out of the library in a hurry, citing that you needed me, and he has no choice but to make a statement against us. The police will do a full investigation, find everything and pull us in. You’ll get leniency because of your conditions but I won’t, they’ll throw the book at me because the court will have higher expectations of me as a law student, and I’ll go down for a long time. I know you’re scared honey, I know you’re panicking, I know you can’t think rationally, but please, don’t try to cover this up.”

His cries were raw and painful.

“I-I’m s-so s-so s-sor-ry J-Josh, I’m s-sorry!”  
“Did you already try sweetheart? Just be honest with me, it’s important I know. Did you already try to cover it up?”  
“Y-y-ye-e-eh,”  
“Okay, alright, deep breaths. I’m 3 minutes away, just keep breathing my love. If you need to take a break to breathe, that’s okay.” Josh was desperate to know how bad things were and how much they’d given the prosecution to run with, but knew he needed to stop Tyler collapsing.

“I w-wash-washed the b-b-blood o-off the p-photo f-fr-frame,”  
“Is that all?”  
“Y-yeh,”  
“And is the photo frame damaged in any other way? Smashed, chipped, anything that still proves it was the weapon?”  
“S-sm-smash-shed,”  
“Okay, put it down somewhere and don’t touch it again, but don’t panic. We can work this into your defence, we can make all of this make sense.” Josh was telling himself as well as Tyler. “I know you don’t like attention being drawn to it but we need to use your schizoaffective disorder as much as possible. You did what you did, including washing the photo, because you’re not well. You called me because you were scared and it’s well documented that I’m somebody you love and trust - that way they won’t get suspicious that you’re calling me for legal advice. I came over because I know your history of psychosis and I wanted to make sure it was real and that’s why we waited to get the police involved, and then as soon as I could confirm that it isn’t a hallucination, we did everything we could to comply. As soon as we get to the station, you need to get your lawyer to contact Dr Wakefield and immediately ask for psychiatric support, that way we can get the seeds for an insanity plea sown early. It’s gonna be fine, it’s all gonna be fine,”

Josh hadn’t even noticed that he was crying until the first tear dropped off his jaw. He brushed it off and made a hard right turn down his street.

“Ty? Baby? Talk to me,”  
“...mu ya bess en...”  
“Sweetheart??”  
“I m-murdered your b-best f-friend!!” Tyler screamed out. “I k-ki-kill-killed J-Jesse, j-just like I k-killed D-Debby,”  
“You didn’t hurt Debby, she was in a car accident love, it’s not your fault.”  
“It i-is m-my fault, s’all my f-fault,”  
“No. Debby’s death had absolutely nothing to do with you, she was run off the road by a drunk driver, that’s not your fault, you hear me? That’s not your fault.”

He finally arrived outside his apartment block and was relieved to see there was a parking space right outside the front door, so swung in and abandoned the car there, not bothering to straighten up.

“I’m at the building, when I get to our door I’m gonna knock 4 times so you know it’s me and you don’t panic, okay?”  
“I’m s-so s-so-sorry,”  
“You don’t need to apologise Ty, you’ve done nothing wrong. You’re sick and you startle easily and that’s not your fault, so don’t you dare blame yourself, you hear me? It was an accident, I know that, and I’ll make sure the police know that too.”

Josh was taking the stairs 3 at a time, running on pure adrenaline, and finally reached his apartment. As promised, he knocked 4 times, then pushed the unlocked door open. Not wanting anybody else to be able to walk in on the scene, Josh made sure to lock and bolt the door behind him.

“Sweetheart?? It’s Josh,” he put his phone away and carefully walked towards the kitchen, terrified of what he might find, and as soon as he saw Tyler curled up on the floor, blood on his hands, his heart dropped.

There was blood on his hands. It was real.

“Deep breaths Ty, I’m gonna sort it, it’s all gonna be fine, I’ll talk to the police, I’ll talk to the lawyers, I’ll testify, it’s all gonna be absolutely fine I promise you,”  
“A m-man is d-de-dead J-Josh, n-nothing is f-fine.” Tyler avoided eye contact as he hiccuped, and Josh tried to crouch down beside him to offer some kind of reassurance.  
“Babe,”  
“DONT T-TOUCH M-ME!!!”  
“Sorry, sorry, I’m not touching, I won’t touch you, just remember to breathe, nice and slow,”

Knowing the sooner the wait was over, most likely the better, Josh had to rally himself for seeing something he really didn’t want to see.

“The front room, right? That’s where he is?”  
“D-Don’t g-go,”  
“I just need to have a really quick look to make sure everything matches up with our story, but trust me when I say I’m not gonna be in there any longer than I have to be. I’ll look then I’ll call 911 then I’ll sit with you till they come, okay?”  
“D-don’t go!”  
“30 seconds, that’s all, I’m coming straight back baby,”

Josh was shaking violently and stumbled a little when he stood up again, almost as if his feet were begging him not to move, but he knew that ironing out any wrinkles in the story had to happen now or else they risked punishments beyond conceiving. With that being said, Josh felt like puking at the idea of seeing his roommate’s skull caved in.

The pressure and fear and overwhelming anxiety swelled as he forced himself forward, pulse loud in his ears, heart cold in his chest, vision spinning. He had to do this. He had to do this for Tyler, and with that, he opened the door.

“Ty?!”

Josh let out a flurry of of relieved whimpers and choking breaths - their white rug was stainless and there was no blood and no body to be seen.

“It’s not real sweetheart, you’re okay, it’s a hallucination and I’m so sorry for enabling you but you did nothing wrong, you didn’t hurt Jesse. It’s gonna be okay baby,”  
“No! No no no no no, no, he’s r-ri-right th-there!” Tyler scrambled to join him in the door way to the living room, pointing a trembling finger at the ordinary rug.  
“He’s not Tyler, there’s nothing there. I know it’s hard to switch those ideas off but you have to trust me and trust that I’m telling you the truth - you didn’t hurt anybody.”

He didn’t know whether Tyler believed him or not but the hysterical man collapsed against Josh’s chest, small and vulnerable, and Josh let out a deep sigh as he bundled him close.

“I think you cut your hands on the broken picture frame when you smashed it trying to get rid of the hallucination, or maybe whilst trying to scrub it clean - will you let me see how bad the wounds are? See whether we need to nip down to the hospital or not?”

“Oh Josh, I was wondering when you were gonna swing by, hey kid,” Tyler’s father opened the door of the family home with a warm smile, “You wanna come in?”  
“Thanks Mr Joseph,”

“You just had one of your finals, taxes or something, right?”  
“Unfortunately so,”  
“Ah, bit of a stinker?”  
“No, not, um, not really, the questions were fine, I just didn’t have time to finish my last essay,”  
“Is it gonna mean your grade takes a big knock?”  
“There were 6 essays and I was really happy with the first 5, just that last one got away from me. It’s a pass fail paper, and I only need 60% to pass, but-“  
“But nothing, it sounds like you don’t need to worry about it kid.” Chris tried to reassure him.

“I’ll pass, at least I hope I’ll pass-“  
“You’ll pass. You’re a smart guy.”  
“But all the major firms will look at my transcripts and if I’ve got anything less than like, 90, they’re not gonna want me.”  
“You already got a job offer though, didn’t you? At that fancy company who have that skyscraper in the city where you did your summer internship? Months before you’ve even taken the bar or graduated, they clearly want you.”  
“They can go back on the offer though, it was conditional to me keeping in the top 10 of my class,”  
“And what’s your current rank?”  
“3rd,”  
“So you’ll be absolutely fine Josh, don’t get in your head about it,”  
“Sorry,” he sighed.

“It’s been a crappy week, excuse my French, but you’re allowed to be tired.”  
“I’m exhausted,” Josh admitted.  
“You wanna go home? Get some rest? I’ll tell Tyler that you came to visit but I sent you away,”  
“Um,” he stopped to fully consider the option. “Is he still sick today? Or has he managed to ground himself?”  
“No not yet, still thinks you hid the body for him. We called Dr Wakefield earlier and he said if this same psychosis breaches into tomorrow then he’ll come by for a home visit and maybe see about adjusting some meds or doing an emergency prescription or something, but for today we’ve just gotta contain him and calm him and soothe him ourselves,”  
“Right,”

“I think the fact you’re even considering it is telling enough. Go home, sleep, we’ve got him covered.”  
“If I go home then I’ll just work.”  
“Got more exams coming up?”  
“Another one in two days. Andrew will be studying at the kitchen table and I’ll feel bad if I don’t conform, feel like I’m being lazy or whatever. I know it’s not healthy but I can’t switch it off. I can’t switch off, period.”  
“You were raised that way, working all the time, so that makes perfect sense, but it doesn’t mean you have to listen to that idea that you’re being lazy. If you can’t go home, why not camp out on our couch for a couple of hours? Zack’s at college, Maddy and Jay are staying with their grandma whilst Ty is sick, and Kelly and Ty haven’t left his bedroom all day. You’ll get some peace in there, I’ll make sure of it.”

Josh thought about it for a moment, then shook himself.

“No, what am I saying, no, can I see Ty please?”  
“It’s alright to take your foot off the gas, you need to relax every now and then or you’ll burn out,”  
“Spending time with my boyfriend is relaxing,”  
“Not when he’s psychotic,”  
“It is. Maybe it’s not as easy, maybe my heart hurts, but he’s still Tyler, he’s still the man I love, the conversations need more care and consideration but that’s the role I chose to take on when we got together. Mr Joseph I knew what I was signing up for. These conversations, the ones where he’s scared and lost, these are the important ones, these are the ones that matter. If I want to build a life with him, which I do, then it needs to begin on the solid foundation that my love for him is not conditional on his mental health being perfect. He needs to know that I’ll love him on the bad days too, and the only way he’s ever gonna let himself believe that is if I go up there now and be with him.”

“Those speech classes you take at college are paying off,” Chris just smirked at him across the kitchen counter. “I know you love him, if you wanna go be with him then I’ve got absolutely no problem with that. My only point is to remember that you can’t keep firing on all cylinders forever. Go upstairs, be the amazing boyfriend that we all know you are, then come back down and grab a bag of chips from the cupboard and watch some crappy TV for a while. Deal?”  
“Deal, thank you sir,” Josh nodded respectfully then scuttled out of the room.

He’d been staying over at their house for a couple of weekends here and there, and Tyler had spent a few odd nights at his apartment too, including the night before his big hallucination. Tyler wanted him to move in full time, citing that they’d lived together during high school and it would only strengthen their relationship, but they had to acknowledge that things had changed so Josh had politely declined until further down the line. They’d only just celebrated a year since Tyler’s discharge, it was far too soon to be rushing into anything, and the psychotic episode was more evidence that they shouldn’t move too fast.

Nevertheless, Josh saw one of his coats hanging over the end of the bannister and didn’t even blink twice. He liked how comfortable the house and these people made him feel.

“Knock knock, can I come in? It’s Josh,” He checked before barging in.  
“Hi sweetheart! Come in,” Kelly called back sunnily, so Josh opened the door to Tyler’s bedroom with its distinctive twin beds, only to find the mother and son sat on the floor.

There was a jigsaw puzzle between them but hardly any pieces had been slotted together and there didn’t seem to be much of strategy going for dividing the pile of pieces, so Josh quickly concluded that it was a distraction tactic that Tyler was ignoring. Instead his boyfriend was cuddling his legs, back pressed to his bed, with puffy eyes and a wet snotty face.

“How was your exam??” Kelly asked, always knowing exactly what he was up to.  
“Eh, could go either way, we’ll see.” Josh sighed, “Can I sit down with you Ty? Or you want space?”  
“S-sit,”  
“Thank you darling,” he lowered himself down onto the carpet with the groan of an old man, and wasn’t in the least surprised when Tyler immediately shuffled over and crashed against him, in need of a hug.

His hands were both wrapped up in soft white bandages. After realising that the murder wasn’t real and the blood was Tyler’s, Josh called Kelly, who had helped him make the decision to pop Tyler down to urgent care. Thankfully they didn’t place him under a psych hold, understanding that the family knew how to respond to and manage an episode, but they did have to pull out several fragments of glass from his palms. They gave him a pretty strong sedative first, then the cuts needed to be stitched up, meaning his left hand had 3 tiny gashes treated with 1 stitch each, and his right had 2 cuts, both needing 3 stitches. The nurse then stuck dressings on and wrapped them up in bandage before sending him home to cry hysterically in his bed for a while longer.

“Where’s the b-body J-Josh, just t-tell m-me,”  
“There is no body, you didn’t hurt Jesse. He’s fine, we had dinner together last night, I saw him this morning, he’s fine sweetheart,”  
“I know you h-hid it, I kn-know you c-covered it up for m-me,”  
“Tyler there was nothing to cover up, you didn’t do anything to anyone,”

“Josh, I think maybe it’s better we talk about something else,” Kelly smiled sympathetically.  
“Yeh,” he sighed, pressing his lips to the top of Tyler’s head momentarily, feeling as he shook whilst crying gently, dampening Josh’s shirt.

“Have you got many exams left?”  
“3, then I’m on Christmas break, thank the Lord,”  
“Christmas break, that’ll be nice hey Ty? Get to spend even more time with Josh??”  
“I’m g-gonna be in j-jail,”  
“No you’re not baby, Momma and Josh are here and we’re telling you you’re not,” Kelly tried to reassure him and Josh squeezed him close.  
“I-I-I don’t wanna use a-an in-insanity plea, I’m n-not insane, I knew e-exactly what I was d-doing when I h-hit him.”

Josh didn’t know what to say that would be helpful, and by the look of Kelly’s pitiful smile, neither did she.

“You know what I heard over the radio on the drive over here? It was that song you used to play on the ukulele for me all the time, gah, I don’t remember the band,” he did, but he hoped it would engage Tyler more, “the one that goes: why did you build me up buttercup, baby,”

It was horribly out of tune and Kelly actually chuckled under her breath before helping him out with the next line.

“Just to let me down, mess me around, and then worst of all you never call, baby, when you say you will, but I love you still,” the pair duetted with matching smiles and equally horrendous pitching issues, but Tyler sniffed deeply and it seemed to be somewhat soothing to him.

“I need you, I need you, more than anyone darlin’, you know that I have from the start,” Josh paused to kiss Tyler’s forehead, “so build my up, buttercup, don’t break my heart,”

“The F-Foundations,” Tyler whispered quietly.  
“Thaaat’s it, yeah, thank you babe,”

“Is Ty coming round to join the celebrations or nah?” Andrew asked, cracking open his first beer and flopping back against the couch with a satisfied sigh.

After an agonising end to the semester, their finals were over with at long last and they could relax for the first time in... a while. That was, until the set reading for January had to be started. The pair had decided to reserve the first weekend of the Christmas break for celebrating their survival of Winter L3 though, and Jesse was in the kitchen ordering pizza.

“Yeh he’s on his way, should be here pretty soon. I also said he could sleep over, that alright?”  
“Course it is, just do us a favour and turn the TV on loud if you’re gonna fuck him - the noise is-“  
“Speaking of the devil!” Josh thankfully had an excuse to stop discussing his sex life with the guy in the next bedroom as he heard a knock on their front door and rushed to answer it, knowing who it would be.

“Hey hey heyy,”  
“Hi you, congrats on finishing! I got you alcohol-free champagne!” Tyler greeted him with a hug then held up his glass bottle proudly with his still bandaged hand. “Well, Mom got it, but I got the bus here all by myself so there’s gotta be some praise in there for me too.”  
“How’s this for praise?” Josh cupped his face with both hands and kissed him on the lips until they heard heckling from the apartment.

“Stop snogging in the hallway and get in!” It sounded like Jesse was done on the phone, and thankfully Tyler just laughed as he stepped inside.

He hadn’t been back to the apartment and he hadn’t seen Jesse since his episode, which meant Josh couldn’t help feeling a little nervous as he followed Tyler into the room that he thought he’d killed someone in.

“Big T! Howdee!” Andrew stood up and went in for a slappy-clappy handshake, but saw the white bandages covering up the wounds from the photo frame, so instead pulled Tyler into an initially kind of awkward hug that became funny when they both started to laugh.

“Hey Drew,”  
“Hey bud,” Andrew sat back down with a big smile on his face as Josh tucked an arm around Tyler’s waist. “How you doing?”  
“Better, yeh, screwed my head on tighter and I’m a-okay,”  
“Glad to hear it pal,”

“Is it too soon to be making ghost jokes?” Jesse appeared from the kitchen and Josh felt Ty take a small deep breath.  
“Back from the dead to haunt me already?”  
“Something like that. Did I just hear you’re doing better though?”  
“So much better. Squeezed in an extra therapy session and I’m good as new - and for the record, I’m sorry about killin ya in my head,”  
“S’all good, no harm done, ‘cept those hands look like they’ve seen better days. Josh told us you scraped up your palms but I didn’t think they would still be wrapped up, is it bad?” He gestured to the bandages and Tyler put the non-alcoholic champagne on the coffee table and dropped his overnight bag from off his shoulder next to the chair, then held his hands up for his own inspection really, not that there was much to see.

“Got my stitches out the day before yesterday and the nurse was happy with how they’re healing; no long term damage except a few new scars, just keeping them super secured and hidden away to stop me from cracking off the scabs and either triggering myself with the blood or making the scars worse. Plus the bandages kinda act like hand warmers which is an added bonus during this weather.”  
“Doesn’t hurt or nothing no?”  
“Not anymore nah,”  
“Good.” Jesse smiled deep and wide.

In that moment, Josh felt so incredibly grateful to have two roommates who were so supportive of his boyfriend that his heart swelled in his chest.

“Right, exams are done, pizza’s ordered, party time.” Josh announced, leaving Tyler for two seconds to go into the kitchen and grab four glasses from the cupboard - they didn’t own champagne flutes so four mismatching wine glasses would have to do, not that anyone of them were in anyway refined enough to know the difference it made.

“Wait I don’t get it, what exactly is non-alcoholic champagne?” Andrew leaned forwards, setting down his beer and instead reading the label on the bottle.  
“It’s like normal ‘cept you don’t get drunk. It’s for people with drinking issues like me, or who make the choice to be teetotal like Josh, or people of certain faiths or pregnant people or people on meds or kids or whoever else, just so we can be part of the fun too.”  
“Am I cheating if I’m also drinking a beer?”  
“Just as long as you don’t mix ‘em in the same glass, you’re good.”

“Thought we agreed absolutely no reading till Monday,” Josh snatched the bottle off his classmate and peeled the foil off then untwisted the securing wire. “Brace yourself kiddos,”

With a confident push of his thumb, the cork popped and flew across the room, and Tyler rushed to hand him the first glass to stop any of the fizz spilling onto the ground.

He half filled a glass for everyone and handed them round, then held up his own.

“A toast, here’s to Andrew and me surviving finals, to Jesse’s return from the dead, and to Tyler being home from Cygnet for over a year now. May our Christmas be merry and our new year be prosperous, cheers!”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all,
> 
> Sorry this account, and especially this AU, have been so neglected recently. I won't go into the details but things have been a little rocky on my end and, surprise surprise, I'm back inpatient. I'm on a different ward of the usual hospital and so far it's not so bad, the staff are all nicer than my usual and I've made a friend which helps, but it's still hardnow that all my friends have gone back for their second year of uni and I'm still yet to get anything above my GCSEs, but oh well. At least i finally got a post up, hey? Small victories.
> 
> Also fun side point, this fic was actually inspired by a true story of mine when I thought I'd killed my sister, but no worries, she's all good and it was just my mind having fun with meeee, thaaaaanks brain, lol...
> 
> Hope you're all well, I would promise more regular updates if I could but I'm afraid we'll just take each day as it comes. With that being said, I am still taking suggestions of prompts for this universe, so long as you don't mind a rather long wait.
> 
> Apologies and love coming your way,  
Maisie


End file.
